Listening comprehension

Role-play. Discuss the problem.

The Problem.

Mrs Webb is married with two children who are both now of school age. For the last ten years she has been a housewife, but would now like to rejoin the work force. She is a qualified nurse. Her husband, however, is very resistant to the idea.

The Characters.

The frustrated housewife: Ann Webb

She was a nurse before she got married. She has been a housewife for the last ten years and feels bored. Her children are both of school age, so she wants to go back to work. One of her dreams is to be able to afford an overseas trip to visit her parents. She hasn’t seen them for 11 years.

Husband: Bob Webb.

He is a sales representative earning only an average wage. He has no qualifications and has been working in the same job without promotion, for the last ten years. He has a very traditional view of the role of the wife and mother within the family. He is resistant to the idea of his wife going back to work.

Grandparent: Mr or Mrs Webb senior (either mother or father of Bob and Alice).

He/she is elderly with health problems, lives with Bob and Ann but doesn’t get on with Alice because he/she dislikes the fact that Alice puts her child in a child-minding centre during the day. He/she has very traditional views of the role of the wife and mother within the family and, although liking Ann, doesn’t want her to go back to work.

Bob’s sister: Alice Jones.

She is a social worker/marriage counselor and enjoys her job. She has just booked a world cruise which she is able to afford because she works. She went back to work as soon as her child was born. She has one child who is 18 months old. The child is looked after in a child-minding centre. Alice thinks Ann should go back to work for many reasons.

Alice’s husband: Richard Jones.

He is a teacher. He is very liberal in his views about his wife’s role. At first he was unhappy about the child being put into a child-minding centre, but says now that it is working out very well.

The Discussion

Assemble into your discussion groups and, by discussing the problem, try to work out a way to solve it. Afterwards each group is going to be asked to give an account of the outcome of the discussion. While discussing the problem use the appropriate language exponents from the Speech Functions Bank.

Chris Carter.. For a Change. 2001

1. Before listening to the text “An Arranged Marriage” study the following vocabulary.

arrange v	организовывать
family background	происхождение, семейное положение
chaperon n	компаньонка, спутница, сопровождающая молодую девушку
integrate v	объединять, вливаться, интегрировать
persuade v	убедить
private tuition	частное (домашнее) обучение

Дата добавления: 2017-01-14